One thing you can count on with the Detroit Lions is that they are never, ever boring. Follow the latest news including injuries, roster moves and more here daily from Oakland Press beat writer Paula Pasche. Plus you'll find regular commentary about the team.

2/24/2009

McShay: Lions in a 'nightmare situation' with No. 1 pick

ESPN draft analysts Mel Kiper and Todd McShay had an interesting debate in a podcast on ESPN.com this morning about whether the Lions should take Georgia quarterback Matt Stafford No. 1 overall.

There's nobody else to take, Kiper said You have no face of the organization, you have the No. 1 pick, you need a quarterback, you got to roll the dice.

McShay said he'd take Baylor left tackle Jason Smith at No. 1, and said general manager Martin Mayhew is in a no-win situation in his first draft.

History tells you if you are forced to take a quarterback in the draft, you don't love them, and you don't have enough around that quarterback position, you're going to fail and you set your organization up to fail, McShay said. Listen, I don't want to be running the Detroit organization right now. I don't want to be in charge of that war room because you have a no-win situation. I'm getting booed out of Detroit if I take Jason Smith with that first overall pick. I recognize that, and that's why it's a nightmare situation.

I'd say fans are pretty evenly split between Stafford, a tackle (Smith or Virginia's Eugene Monroe) and linebacker Aaron Curry, with Curry a slight favorite right now. Regardless, McShay said Stafford is not ready mentally to start as a rookie and he'd try and build like the Cleveland Browns did two years ago, when they took Joe Thomas with the third pick then traded up to draft quarterback Brady Quinn at No. 22. The Lions also pick 20th in the first round.

Last year I felt great about Matt Ryan prior to the draft. I said it 100 times ... I felt great about building my franchise around Matt Ryan, McShay said. I think Matt Stafford is in every single physical category better than Matt Ryan, but I don't feel great about building my organization around him and there are at least 10 teams here that I've talked to a representative from that have the same exact mindset that say, you know what, thank God I am not running war room in Detroit because I don't want to have to make that decision.

man, i completely agree with the no-win situation comment. we are between a rock and a hard place and it's totally not fair for mayhew to be put in this position. i really feel for him cuz we really are in a can't win position.

the only thing i'm almost sure of is that i don't want stafford with that numb 1 pick. other than that, i have absolutely no idea what'd i do or who i'd pick in the first round.

do we go defense and grab curry or do we go offense and grab j smith or e monroe? damn near impossible call to make at this point.

i do know that the super bowl caliber teams drafted defense for the first half of their drafts and maybe we need to follow suit.

i do know this - i'm gonna give maywand a pass for a few years to get this team turned around cuz this is def not a one year project.

I think it's quite simple. You don't "roll the dice" with the number one pick, the Lions cannot afford it. So, that means you either go Curry, or J. Smith, whichever one is willing to sign before the draft. It really is as simple as that! Now we can move on to our second and third pick.

About Me

Paula Pasche, a veteran sports writer, covers the Lions for The Oakland Press. She has written a book, "100 Things Lions Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die" which is available at bookstores and on Amazon.com. She won first place for column writing from the Society of Professional Journalists in Detroit (Class B) in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and was The Oakland Press 2010 Staffer of the Year.